the best leaders
TRANSCRIPT
© 2016 Hagberg Consulting Group LLC. All Rights Reserved.
What Differentiates High Performing Leaders ?
Richard Hagberg, PhD
Hagberg Consulting Group, LLC
(360) 346-0233
April 2017
The Best Leaders
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A Definition of Leadership
Leadership gives purpose and meaningful
direction which inspires and motivates a
group to work toward a desired goal.
Most definitions include these crucial factors:
– Activity in a purposeful direction
– The ability to excite and execute
– Building a relationship between the leader and the group
members that inspires them to follow
– Gaining leverage by working through the efforts of others
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Hagberg Research Looked at 46 Leadership Competencies Factor Analysis shows These Cluster Into Three Groups
Visionary Evangelists: Their Strengths
• Create motivation with their excitement, enthusiasm and
optimism, charisma and ability to communicate and influence
people
• Take charge and assume a leadership role when they see a
problem or opportunity
• Confident risk takers and change agents who are willing to
challenge the status quo
• Paint a vision of possibilities and high level strategy
• Showing people how they will make a dent in the universe
• Feel destined to accomplished great things and are willing to work
hard to make a difference
• Encourage followers to keep going when the going gets tough
• Curious learners who bubble with creative ideas
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Visionary Evangelists: Their Weaknesses
• Overly optimistic risk takers who fail to consider what might go
wrong
• When focused on their own agenda, can be insensitive and
inconsiderate
• Stubborn and don’t always listen or accept input from others
• Often micromanagers who have difficulty empowering others
• Nonconformists who dislike rules, boundaries and social
convention
• Can be overly impractical and unrealistic about external
competitors and threats
• Frequently fail to follow-through, meet commitments and bring
their ideas to fruition
• Often will let things emerge rather than defining expectations
clearly
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John Donahoe
ebay
Indra Nooyi
Pepsi
Howard Schultz
Starbucks• Create a “family” feeling and strong teamwork by encouraging cooperation,
mutual trust, open communication, harmony and creating a sense of “shared
fate”
• The “heart” of every organization: put people before task and profit
• Friendly and approachable: value, care about and enjoy people, supportive
• Socially astute: understand what makes people tick
• Diplomatic and build effective partnerships and alliances
• Listen, solicit input, adapt and encourage sharing of ideas
• Know how to get employee buy-in and engagement
• Masters of getting people to like them and building relationships
• Sensitive to employee feelings, needs, concerns and perspectives
• Trusting and trustworthy: Try to do the right thing and believe others will do
the same
• See the best in people bring it out through praise, support and coaching
• Build followership and personal loyalty by showing they understand and care
• Easygoing, happy, upbeat and even-tempered
Relationship Builders: Their Strengths
7
John Donahoe
ebay
Indra Nooyi
Pepsi
Howard Schultz
Starbucks
• Focus on creating harmonious relationships not getting results
• Too nice: compassion and need to be liked makes it hard for them
to be demanding, say “no” and make tough people decisions
• Too tolerant of poor performance and don’t hold people
accountable: Too trusting, patient and accepting
• Not creative: Avoid rocking the boat and disruptions of status quo,
too conforming and accommodating
• More focused on the organizational “family” than on marketplace
• Make poor presentations: don’t take the time to reflect and give
serious thought
• Avoid conflict: strong aversion to disharmony and displeasing
people
• Not forceful, take-charge leaders
Relationship Builders: Their Weaknesses
Warren Buffet Jack WelchHenry Ford
Meg WhitmanMichael DellGeorge Washington
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• Focused on getting results
• Superb tactical planners who clarify expectations, goals, roles,
milestones and metrics
• Good administrators: efficient, focused, organized, purposeful
• Excel at bringing structure, control and organization to the enterprise
• Dependable, steady and methodical: determined to meet their
commitments
• Decisive: make clear-cut, fact-based, rational, tough decisions
• Establish systems and processes to ensure efficiency and quality
• Sweat the details: persistent, rigorous and precise
• Good judgment: pragmatic realists, rarely impulsive or reckless
• Dedicated, committed and very hard working
• Values-driven: conscientious and responsible boy/girl scouts
• High standards of excellence: demanding and hold people accountable
• Take charge; it’s their duty
Managers of Execution: Their Strengths
Warren Buffet Jack WelchHenry Ford
Meg WhitmanMichael DellGeorge Washington
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• Extreme focus on task and results often causes insensitivity and damaged
relationships
• Often misread people and organizational/political dynamics
• Can be overly demanding and critical
• Lack diplomacy and awareness of the impact of their behavior and decisions on
others
• Can be micromanagers who are obsessed with control and don’t delegate or
empower
• Can be stubborn and don’t always accept feedback or listen to input
• Prone to emotional outbursts and unproductive confrontations when people don’t
meet their expectations
• Have trouble tolerating ambiguity and uncertainty
• Can see change as a threat
• Tunnel-vision: so focused on the details that miss big picture
• “My way or the highway”
• Too conservative and risk-averse
• Lack creativity
• Create stress and burnout: drive themselves and others too hard
Managers of Execution: Their Weaknesses
Natural Skills of Each Pillar Type
Visionary Evangelist
• Idea generation and seeing around corners
• Persuasiveness
• Change catalyst
Relationship Builder
• Social awareness and emotional intelligence
• Communication
Manager of Execution
• Personal discipline, organization and focus
• Practicality
• Willingness to make tough decisions
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1. Self-monitoring
2. Equanimity
3. Adaptability
4. Compassion
5. Trust
6. Courage
7. Humility
8. Clear values
9. Sound judgment
Personal GroundingA leaders level of personal grounding impacts the effectiveness of each style
and can distort or damage their natural skills
Personal Grounding
Visionary Evangelist
Relationship BuilderManager of
Execution
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How Each Element of Personal Grounding Impacts Leadership
Internal basis
1. Self-monitoring
2. Equanimity
3. Adaptability
4. Compassion
5. Trust
6. Courage
7. Humility
8. Clear values
9. Sound judgment
Impact on Behavior
1. Regulating your behavior to adjust to social situations
2. Accepting handing stress and adversity while remaining calm
3. Learning and adjusting your behavior to new demands and realities
4. Showing kindness, caring, and a willingness to help others
5. Believing that most people are basically good and honest
6. Willingness to make tough, sometimes unpopular decisions
7. Accepting your strengths & weaknesses
8. Making clear, unambiguous, principle-based decisions and taking
consistent action based on those principles
9. Demonstrating objectivity, contextual knowledge and experiential wisdom
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THE CHARACTERISTICS OF BEST LEADERS
The Characteristics of
Best Leaders
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We Looked at 46 Leadership Competencies Using 360 Assessments
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Adaptability Dependability Information Sharing Relationship Building
Agent of Change Developing Structures,
Systems, & Processes
Inspiring Role Model Re-engineering
Processes
Assertiveness Emotional Control &
Composure
Judgment & Reasoning Resilience & Stress
Management
Building
Partnerships
Emphasizing Excellence Leveraging Diversity Results & Productivity
Building Teams External Focus Listening Self Confidence
Creating Buy-in Facilitating Conflict
Resolution
Model of Commitment Sensitivity/Consider
Creating Meaning Finding & Attracting Talent Model of Values Social Astuteness
Creativity &
Innovation
First Impression Negotiation Strategy Focus
Coaching Formal Presentation Openness to Input Taking Initiative
Culture Management Forthrightness Organizational
Awareness
Visionary Thinking
Decisiveness Handling Resistance to
Change
Praise & Recognition
Delegation &
Empowerment
Holding People
Accountable
Planning & Prioritizing
360 Ratings Were Completed by the Boss, Peers, Direct
Reports and Investors/Board Members
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Executives Also Completed a Self-Assessment
Measuring 42 Personality Traits
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Research Methodology
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Global Leadership
Effectiveness Rating
360 ratings of 46 skills
360 comments
50 Personality
Traits
327 Personality
Items
• Began collecting data in 1984
• Current sample from 2000-2017
• Analysis based on 360 degree
assessments and personality test results
of 1537 senior business executives by an
average of 17 raters
• After completing ratings on 50
leadership competencies, raters were
asked to assess each subject on Overall
Leadership Effectiveness
• Regression Analysis revealed significant
statistical relationships between Overall
Leadership and the 46 competencies and
50 personality characteristics
• Qualitative analysis then looked at word
and phase counts in rater comments
• Sample made of multiple industries for
organizations located around the world
Where are you focusing your attention?“That which you put your attention on grows stronger”
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Thoughts
Feelings
Sensations
Decisions and Choices
Your organization
Your team
Technology
The competition
Customers
The person who is
talking to you
The economy
The political situation
Where do visionary evangelists focus attention?
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Think about what needs to
change
Generate new Ideas
Visualize what is possible
Want to be Independent
Feel destined to accomplish great
things
Try to create excitement
Try to make a good impression
Try to be a agent of change
Try to persuade and influence
Try to appear self-confident
Feel optimistic
Feel excited and
enthusiastic
Try to paint a vision of the
future
Try to motivate and inspire others
Where do relationship builders focus attention?
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Seek harmony
Uncomfortable with conflict
and outbursts
Want to belong
Try to be friendly and
approachable
Try to be agreeable and avoid conflict
Try to control their
emotions
Try to understand what others
want
Try to read people
Try to be considerate
Try to listen and adapt to others views
Try to understand how others
feel
Look for the best in people
Trusting
Fear rejection
Where do managers of execution focus attention?
21
Like organization, stability and certainty and
things familiar
Respect authority and
rules
Comfortable when feel things are
under control
Uncomfortable with risk and the
unexpected
Try to raise the bar and create
excellence
Try to establish routines and
policies
Try to minimize risk and
uncertainty
Try to create plans and priorities
Try to create organization and
efficiency through systems and
processes
Try to deliver results
Try to get things under control and
create stability and predictability
Driven to be the best
Feel obligated to meet commitments and get things done
Try to ensure compliance
through policies, and rules
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Results
(Manager
of
Execution)
Direction
(Visionary
Evangelist)
Engagement
(Relationship
Builder)
Manager of Execution Capabilities:
1. Decisiveness with good
judgment
2. Holding people accountable
3. Dependability
4. Developing structures, systems
and processes
5. Emphasizing excellence
Relationship Builder Capabilities:
1. Building teams
2. Creating buy-in
3. Building partnerships
4. Forthrightness
5. Model of values
6. Relationship building
7. Information sharing
8. Sensitivity and consideration
9. Organization awareness
Visionary Evangelist
Capabilities:
1. Inspirational role model
2. Taking initiative
3. Agent of change
4. Visionary thinking
5. Strategic focus
6. Model of commitment
7. Praise and recognition
8. Self-confidence
Best Leader Traits Cluster into 3 Groups
Leadership
Cycle
VISIONARY EVANGELIST
CAPABILITIES
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Visionary Evangelist Capabilities
Inspirational role model
• Create motivation and meaning that makes people want to follow you
Taking initiative
• The courage to act when you see a problem, solution or a new opportunity
Agent of change
• Challenge the status quo
Visionary thinking and strategic focus
• Paint a picture of of a vision of possibilities
• Turn this vision into a clear set of strategic objectives—a concrete plan of action
Model of commitment
• Be willing to work long and hard to turn the vision into a reality
Praise and recognition
• Showing appreciation and encouraging followers to keep going with positive words of encouragement until the goal is reached
Self-confidence
• Showing strong but realistic confidence in oneself
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Inspirational Role Model:
What inspires and builds motivation and commitment?
1. Modeling hard work and commitment
2. Investing in building relationships and showing you care about people
3. Living the values and showing integrity
4. Encouraging and praising colleagues
5. Helping people grow and develop
6. Being positive, enthusiastic and optimistic about the future
7. Showing a willingness to adapt and learn
8. Being human: Admit you don’t know, make mistakes and have feelings
9. Reading people and learning to influence rather than demanding compliance
1. Being cynical and pessimistic about the future or human nature
2. Being distant and unfeeling
3. Being self-centered and taking personal credit for others’ efforts
4. Being defensive and emotionally abusive
5. Not showing appreciation, concern or supportiveness
6. Lacking focus or a credible plan
7. Being unwilling to trust
8. Not meeting your commitments
9. Being rigid and unwilling to listen to input or to change
10. Treating people inconsistently and showing favoritism
Wha
t in
spir
es
Wh
at d
oe
sn
't insp
ire
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Taking Initiative and Being a Change Agent
Having the courage to act while others hesitate.
Stepping forward, assume a leadership role
Getting things moving ahead to seize opportunities or fix problems
Challenging the status quo
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What It Means
Phases of Company Growth27
Effective leaders must lead change
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Clearly communicate the need and scope of the change required
• Be clear, focused and consistent in identifying changes needed and providing a roadmap
Create a credible and compelling vision that motivates employees
• Create motivation and excitement, a sense of purpose and dissatisfaction with the status quo and show commitment
Identify and mobilize change agents and remove change resisters
• Build a core team to drive the change forward and replace those unwilling or unable to make the change
Engage employees at all levels
• Involve employees throughout the organization in implementing the changes
Shape the culture to support the change
• Articulate the new values and behaviors that will enable change, then model and reward them
Be sensitive to people issues
• Expect and monitor the impact of change on employee’s emotions and behavior
Manage the change process
• Leaders must stay actively involved in the change process; design and implement the changes, monitor progress and sustain commitment
Build organizational skills and capacity
• Build the leadership capability and skills of your senior staff and ensure scalable systems and processes are in place
Adapt strategy to changes in the external environment
• Recognize changes in the competitive, economic and technological ecosystem and adjust your strategy quickly
What kind of people are change agents and take initiative?
People who are motivated by an idea or see an
opportunity to solve a problem
People who have the courage to speak up
People who are willing to work longer and harder than
others to make things happen
People who think for themselves and will risk
challenging the status quo in spite of criticism and
resistance
People who like to innovate, experiment and change
things
People who have a bias for action
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What kind of people are reluctant to take
initiative and challenge the status quo?
People who are content with the status quo
People who are afraid to risk pushing their idea
People who dislike conflict
People who are overly concerned about how others
might view them
People who would rather talk about ideas than take
action
People who are more worried about getting
personal recognition than changing things
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Effective Leaders Develop and Communicate an
Inspiring Purpose, Direction and Priorities :
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Vision & Mission
• Paint a clear, compelling picture of future possibilities to energize and inspire. Be clear about why you are in business and why it matters
Strategy• Develop a clear model for achieving your
vision and mission and a strategic planning process that turns the organization’s vision into long-term objectives
Short-Term Plans and Priorities
• Establish short-term goals, tactics and priorities that are linked to strategic objectives
Creating a vision and mission:
A vision is a picture of a desired future state
Vision provides clarity and direction for everyone
to rally around
It describes the guiding purpose or potential of the
organization
Ask yourself how you will change your team,
organization, industry or perhaps the world?
Today, this is rarely the sole creation of only the
founder, CEO or team leader
More and more it is a process that involves the executive team with the
leader simply guiding the process
It should challenge, motivate and inspire
employees
It should be succinct and easy to remember and can
be internalized by everyone
It can provide a “north star” that helps everyone
make decisions
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Sample Vision or Mission Statements
“To help humanity by enabling all teams to work together effortlessly”
“To be the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining uncompromising principles while we grow”
“To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”
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Entrepreneurial strategy: Balancing
stability with flexibility
• Strategy is the organization’s game plan for winning in the chosen market. It is the execution plan for the organization’s vision
• It is the primary building block of competitive distinctiveness and advantage
• Entrepreneurial firms face many challenges that reduce their chances to survive and succeed (lack of resources, lack of well-accepted markets, confusing changes in the market, fast-moving flow of opportunities)
• Entrepreneurs must recognize emerging opportunities and capture them fast
• This requires constant adjustment in strategy and structure to adapt to changing market circumstances to capture fleeting opportunities before you run out of money
• It is as important to choose what not to do as what to do. You must experiment don’t place too many bets
• You must balance focus with the flexibility to adapt to change while remembering too much change will confuse and frustrates your team
• Assess alternative strategies thoughtfully: It is critical to carefully identify, evaluate, estimate and infer different possible scenarios so you know how to position yourself
• Don’t make strategy last on the list of priorities. Solving today’s problems, of which there are many, is job one. But, don’t fall prey to the tyranny of the urgent--you have to make time for strategy.
• To make time for strategic thinking, delegate as many responsibilities and decisions as possible so you can focus on strategy: understanding the changing market and how to respond
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Turning your vision into a strategic plan:
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# Strategic Focus: Questions to discuss with your team Discuss?
1 Have we spent enough time talking about our long-term goals beyond fixing today’s problems?
3 What would success look like for our organization over the next year or two?
4 What are the biggest opportunities open to us?
5 What resources will be needed to achieve our longer term goals?
6 Which competitors might represent a threat to our success and is there a plan to compete against them successfully?
7 How should we position ourselves in our market?
8 Have we taken the steps necessary to make the market aware of the uniqueness of our products?
9 Do we know enough about our users/customers?
10 Have we clearly communicated the long-term goals to the organization?
11 Do we have the right talent to execute our strategy and achieve our goals?
12 Are we sure these goals are understood and that employees buy-in to them?
13 Is our senior team really aligned around our strategic priorities?
14 Are our product plans consistent with our priorities?
15 Are individual and team priorities clearly aligned with the organization’s long-term goals?
16 Are we holding people accountable for delivering results that are consistent with the organizational goals?
17 What is the size of our addressable market?
18 Is our primary focus at this stage growth, cash flow or profitability?
19 Are we focused or do we have too many priorities?
20 Have we laid out a clearly defined strategic planning process and scheduled regular planning sessions?
21 Have we been nimble enough to adjust our strategic plans and priorities when external conditions change?
22 Have we been disciplined enough to say “no” to initiatives that do not fit with our overall strategy?
Turning your strategy into short-term
operational plans, priorities and responsibilities:
• Short-term objectives represent the
goals an organization sets that are
centered on tasks that can be
achieved the next year
• Examples:– Increasing sales by 20% in Asia
– Reduce burn rate by 15%
– Cut costs by 10%
– Improve churn
– Increase website traffic
– Hire more experienced software
engineers
• Goals should be specific,
measurable, attainable, realistic
and timely
• This allows you to focus effort and
resources and set priorities
• What tasks do you need to accomplish?
• What is the timeline?
• What resources (people, funding, tools,
materials, support) will you need?
• Consider using project planning apps such as
Asana, Trello, Microsoft Project, Casual, Podio,
Basecamp or OmniPlan
• Set goals for the entire project as well as for
sub-tasks
• Establish a budget and set up a funding
timeline to track expenditures against plan
• Develop contingency plans based on different
scenarios. What could go wrong and then,
what would you do?
• Set up a process for monitoring progress
against the plan
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Praise and RecognitionIf you want to encourage followers:
• Increase your ratio of praise to
criticism
• Praise specific behaviors
• Look for what your people are
doing right and tell them
• Show appreciation and you will
inspire and motivate
• Celebrate and recognize
accomplishments
• Deliver praise as soon after the
event as possible
• Motivators: Different strokes for
different folks
– Opportunity to grow
– Independence to create
– Increased responsibility
– Money
– Praise
– Public recognition
– Promotion
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Remember, what motivates you
may or may not be motivating
to other individuals
Self-confidence: Where it helps and hurts
Taking initiative
Visionary thinking
Formal presentation
Emphasizing excellence
Agent of change
Decisiveness
Negotiation
Inspirational role model
Too critical and don’t give praise
Often lack empathy
Focused on results not people
Lack social adroitness
Don’t listen to input
Don’t seek buy-in
Reluctant to ask for help
Not self-reflective
Oversimplify complex issues
Wh
ere
co
nfid
en
ce
is a
n a
sse
tW
he
re to
o m
uch
is a
liab
ility
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RELATIONSHIP BUILDER
CAPABILITIES
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Relationship Building CapabilitiesBuilding teams
•Create and nurture a high performing, cohesive team around a shared mission and a distinctive team identity
Creating buy-in
•Build support from team members
Building partnerships
•Collaborate, communicate and coordinate efforts with the team’s or organization’s critical allies
Forthrightness
•Build trust by being as transparent, genuine and honest as possible
Model of values
•Demonstrate integrity, commitment to principles and consistency
Relationship building
•Invest in building relationships by reaching out, being approachable and friendly
Information sharing
•Openly share information with colleagues and keep them up-to-date on your plans, activities, progress and problems
Sensitivity and consideration
•Be respectful, considerate and sensitive to the needs, concerns and perspectives of your team members and colleagues
Organizational Awareness
•Able to read and navigate through to the politics, trends, events and important relationships that influence how things get done in the organization
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Leaders need to embrace the paradox of leadership:
You succeed through the work of others
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Personal Grounding: Often Missing
If you want to build a high performing team
Develop a strong, shared identity
around the mission and plan
Have direct and open dialogue about the critical issues
Be aware of team member needs, feelings and
concerns
Build an atmosphere of trust and psychological safety
Hold both individual members and the team accountable
Allow only team players
Follow a disciplined decision process
Establish team norms and rules of the road
Have fun working and playing together
Enhance the spirit of support and cooperation
If you want to create buy-in:
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If you want to build collaborative partnerships:
Proactively build relationships with all of those inside and outside the organization that you must collaborate, communicate and cooperate with to get things done
Set up a regular rhythm of meetings where you can exchange information, identify common interests, discuss common problems and develop a deeper understanding of each others’ needs and problems
Proactively build trust and empathy and look for ways to support one another and look for win/win solutions for disagreements
Consider the impact of your decisions and actions on them and their teams
Listen to their feedback and input
Be as open and transparent as possible, avoiding hidden agendas
Seek their buy-in when your initiatives will impact them
Avoid overly aggressive, competitive and autocratic behavior that will create defensiveness, undermine trust and create resistance
44
Forthrightness and transparency are the
basis of building trust in the leader:• Forthrightness and transparency are
critical in building teams, partnerships
and buy-in for your initiatives and a
healthy culture
• People don’t like surprises and want to
work for an organization that consistently
shows it values delivering the truth
• This means you must proactively share
where the organization is headed so
people can plan
• In the absence of open communication
people start to speculate and often focus
on their fears
• Today employees have an easier time
learning about their leaders and the
actions they have taken
• Withholding information is often a sign
that a leader fears losing power, leverage
or gravitas
• If you are more transparent
and authentic:
– Problems are solved more
quickly
– Teams are built more easily
– Relationships are more
authentic
– Employees trust the leader
– Higher levels of performance
emerge
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Forthrightness and transparency
Do’s and Don’ts• Tell the truth
• Be candid and honest in expressing your thoughts and
opinions
• Be consistent in delivering your messages to all
audiences
• Take away as many secrets as possible
• Be real and be yourself, warts and all
• If you can’t divulge information, let people know why
• Own mistakes and defeats rather than blaming others
• Ask good questions and listen to the answers
• Show you value feedback
• Be approachable and accessible
• Treat employees at every level within the organization
with humility, interest and respect
• Share the big picture with employees and help them
connect the dots
• Lead with your values: When you explain a decision, you
will be more persuasive if you link the reason for your
action to values that you believe are important
46
If you want to be a model of values:
• Remember that when it comes to
organizational values, the leader
sets the tone
• Everyone is always watching
• Everything you do makes a
speech about what you really think
is important, how you feel, what
frustrates you or who and what
you value
• You must:
– Consistently adhere to your
values
– Show commitment to the
organization and its greater good
– Convince followers that you care
and are committed to their
success
• Pay particular attention to how you treat
people
• If you love your job, people see it and get
infected.
• If you don’t trust employees, they sense it
• If you don’t meet your commitments, it
sends a message
• If you are pessimistic about the
organization’s prospects, employees can
tell
• If you have no work/life balance, you set
the standard
• If you are straightforward and transparent,
others will be
• If you don’t follow the rules, neither will
they
• If you are anxious or relaxed you influence
those around you
• If you act impulsively and react without
thinking, employees lose respect47
If you want to build relationships:
Initiate contact rather than waiting to be
approached
Show interest in employees as people not just producers of
results
Encourage people to come to you with
problems and concerns
Be visible to your team.
Show your humanity. Share information
about yourself
Don’t be too quick to get into your own
agenda
Be supportive and show you care. Ask,
“How can I help?”
Smile and make eye contact
Tell people you value their contributions
Avoid harsh, judgmental statements
Listen and give people your time and attention
Put away your phone and close your laptop
Learn to be more understanding and
empathetic
Treat people as you would like to be treated
yourself
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If you want to do a better job of sharing information:
• Take away secrets wherever possible. When you don’t
believe employees can be trusted, it shows
• Ask yourself, who needs to know and develop disciplines
around regularly sharing information
• Ask your team to critique your communication to the
organization
• Don’t over rely on a limited number of communication
methods
• Don’t let your competitive nature and need to win cause you
to use information as a power card or try to use access to
information to your advantage
• Don’t let your impatience to get things done cause you to
forget to take the time to keep others in the loop
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If you want to be more sensitive and
considerate:
• “Seek to understand before being understood.” Don’t get so focused on your own
agenda that you fail to consider the other person’s needs and feelings. Try to understand the other persons perspective
• Listen to both the speaker’s message and to the feelings that are under the
words
• If you are uncomfortable with feelings and emotions you may stay too focused
on ideas or task accomplishment and ignore the feelings of others
• Remember, consideration of the feelings and needs of others helps you build stronger relationships with coworkers and enables you to understand what’s going on in the organization.
• Recognize the relationship between sensitivity to people’s feelings and needs and building loyalty, partnerships and teams as well as social/political astuteness
• Avoid harsh, judgmental or accusatory statements that might damage relationships
• Cynical people who are distrusting and are disparaging of the motives of
others often don’t believe people deserve much consideration or sensitivity
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Organizational Awareness
• Organizational Awareness is an aspect of Social Awareness that is directed towards understanding the workplace
• It is the ability to identify and make use of the power relationships that exist in a workgroup and the larger organization
• It includes the ability to
– Recognize the operative values and culture of the organizations and how these affect the way people behave
– Understand the political forces at work in the organization
– Accurately read key Identify the real decision makers and who can influence them
– Understand the power relations in groups or organizations
Organizational AwarenessDon’t be culturally or politically tone deaf
• What are the real priorities at this point in time?
• What is really important around here?
• What does the CEO/boss value most or pay attention to?
• What are the unspoken cultural values and norms?
• What behaviors or styles are taboo?
• What actions get rewarded?
• What are the greatest sources of employee dissatisfaction, stress or frustration?
• What areas get the most resources? Follow the money!
• What determines who has influence or inclusion?
• Who should you build relationships, partnerships and alliances with?
• What characterizes relationships: informal, businesslike, open, guarded, trusting,
friendly, fun-loving?
• What are the sources of conflict within the organization?
• Who are the real decision makers and gatekeepers who control the flow of resources,
information and decisions?
• How do important decisions get made?
• Who really gets ahead in the organization?
• What kinds of people get hired? Who fits in? Who gets fired?
• What political power centers and forces are at work in the organization?
Organizational Awareness2005 Hagberg Culture Research: The distorted view from the top.
• Employees well informed
• Employee input is solicited
• Employee welfare is considered in decision-making and their interests are balanced with that of shareholders
• The business is run to achieve many objectives beyond financial success
• Individual performance goals are clearly linked to company’s larger business objectives
• Environment of trust exists where there is risk-taking and freedom to disagree, conflicts are addressed and nonconformity accepted
• Management intentionally keeps them in the dark
• Management doesn’t listen
• Management is more focused on business objectives than employees
• Unclear about individual performance goals
• Don’t see how their jobs fit into the larger strategy
• Question if management will do what it says it will do
• Management does not want to hear bad news
• Risk-taking is not supported; conformity is expected
Copyright © 2010 Hagberg Consulting Group, LLC All Rights
Reserved.53
What Senior Management
thinks is happening What employees feel
Isolation from reality leads to corruption by power
• A major contributing factor to
faulty decision making is the
leader’s isolation from reality
• Followers filter information by
telling leaders what they want to
hear
• Leaders contribute to this by
surrounding themselves with
sycophants (i.e. brown-nosers
or suck-ups)
• The remedy is to encourage
frank feedback and not tolerate
followers who praise, flatter or
agree with you to gain political
favor
54
Pay attention to your team’s morale
• Common sources of poor team morale:
– #1 cause: Poor team leadership
– Lack of open communication between
leader and team members
– Constantly changing goals
– Misunderstood expectations
– Failure to listen to team members’
concerns and ideas
– Micromanaging and lack of
empowerment
– Unresolved conflicts between
members
– Negative team members
– Heavy workloads and stress
– Lack of meaning (team mission,
company vision)
– Lack of trust and psychological safety
– Lack of recognition for
accomplishments and successes
• Ways to address:
– Conduct surveys that encourage open
feedback (Engagement survey)
– Discuss and really listen to the sources
of poor morale problems
– Get feedback on your own behavior
– Stay focused on well defined goals and
avoid crisis mentality and constantly
changing priorities
– Avoid micromanaging team members
– Address conflicts between members
– Deal with problem team members who
undermine cohesiveness and trust
(coach or remove)
– Be realistic about workloads and
encourage better work/life balance
– Create an atmosphere of trust where
people can be open and feel safe
– Give more frequent praise for
accomplishments
MANAGER OF EXECUTION
CAPABILITIES
56
Execution Capabilities
Decisiveness
• Make tough, considered and clear-cut decisions without unnecessary delay
Holding people accountable
• Define success, clarify expectations, support and monitor progress and performance
Planning, prioritizing and focus
• Be crystal clear about goals, roles, responsibilities and priorities
Dependability
• Meet your commitments and deadlines
Developing structures, systems and processes
• Put in place the organization structures, systems and processes that enable your organization to scale quickly and efficiently
Emphasizing excellence
• Setting high standards and expecting high performance
57
Decisiveness with good judgment
58
Leaders get paid to make decisions and if they make the right ones, they get to keep their job
Decisiveness is the ability to make difficult decisions swiftlyand effectively, exercising good judgment
If you want to make better decisions:
Stop seeking perfection--get comfortable making decisions without all the
answers
Surround yourself with capable people who ask
good questions, keep you informed and have specific
expertise.
Rely on both intuitive inspiration and logical
analysis
Admit your mistakes, take responsibility and correct
the error
Avoid bias and a search for evidence that supports
your preconceptions
Improve ability to read people’s behavior,
feelings, needs and motivations
Understand auto-pilot conditioning: your
strengths, weaknesses and reaction patterns
Speed is an advantage: Make key decisions faster
than your competitors
59
Decision Making Model
Define the Problem
Agree on the Decision Process
Gather Relevant Facts
Brainstorm Alternative Solutions
Systematically Select Best Options
Create an Action Plan
Audit the Decision and Learn
60
Agreeing Upon the Decision ProcessAn Overall Plan for Managing the Decision
Leader decides and informs team
• When it’s time sensitive
• When team is likely to support and implement regardless of having input
Leader gathers input then decides
• Where expert opinion or domain knowledge is helpful
• Synergy of team discussion yields better decision
• Team doesn’t need to come to agreement
Consensus
• Includes input and acceptance by each member
• High level of involvement leads to supported decision
Consensus with fallback
• Preset course of action if team can't reach consensus
• Time limits set
• Leader decides if team fails to agree
Leaders sets constraints &
delegates
• Leader delegates to team or sub-group of the team
• Teams share responsibility
• Helps develop decision-making skills
• Leaders uses his/her time on other things
If you want to improve your judgment
• Consider the impact of your decision/actions:
– On others (your employees, other parts of organizations, your family)
– On your life (stress, bandwidth, work/life balance)
• Make more carefully considered decisions with proper amount of planning and
preparation
• Don’t act in the heat of emotion or get carried away by excitement
• Look at both the upside and the downside rather than being naively optimistic
• Be clear about both your values and company values and what your actions say
about what is really important to you as a leader
• Be adaptable and avoid biases that can cause you to reject input that challenges
your strongly held beliefs
• Keep in mind your standards of excellence and your ability to deliver on
commitments to your team, investors , employees, quality, safety, customers,
core values, investors, partners and long-term success
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What leads to bad decisions and poor judgment?
1. Impulsive, emotional actions and decisions without careful thinking
2. Reckless risk taking
3. Being in a hurry
4. Doing what you want without considering impact or boundaries (values, laws, social
norms, rules)
5. Difficulty focusing or concentrating
6. Disorganization and lack of planning and preparation
7. Stress and anxiety due to overwork
8. Knee-jerk rejection of standard ways of doing things or input from more experienced
people
9. Failure to factor in social dynamics (impact on employees, your team, other teams,
morale, culture etc.)
10. Only focusing on your own ideas and failing to get input or buy-in
11. Ignoring facts or views that are contrary to your own bias
12. Overgeneralizing from limited data points
13. Over-optimism and failure to consider the downside or potential costs and obstacles
14. Arrogance/hubris
Before making a decision, ask yourself:
• Should I be the one making this decision?
• How much time do I have?
• How important is this decision?
• What is my end goal?
• What choices are available to me?
• How much information is available to me?
• What process should I use to make this decision?
• What alternative options are open to me?
• What are the costs involved?
• What kind of ability or expertise is needed to make this decision?
• How do others view this decision?
• What are the risks involved?
• Am I being influenced by certain biases or blind spots?
• What will be the impact on others?
• What are the ethical considerations?
• Is this decision really fair?64
What leads to indecisiveness?
1. Feel you don’t have the authority to make the decision
2. Don’t have enough information
3. Avoiding conflict
4. Turning to others before you have formulated options
5. Overdoing consensus
6. Lacking of self-confidence in yourself or in your domain knowledge or expertise
7. Perfectionism and fear of making a mistake
8. A tendency to procrastinate
9. Second-guessing yourself
10. Fear of being disliked or unpopular
11. Looking for approval
12. Fear of being criticized
13. Difficulty saying “no”
14. Unwillingness to take a stand
15. Getting lost in discussion or debate
16. Not pushing issues to closure
17. Deciding impulsively and then reversing yourself
Support, Train, Coach
And Develop
Define Success,
Set Clear Goals and
Agreed Upon Expectations
(Metrics or Milestones )
Monitor and Solve
Problems Together
Reward Progress and Results;
Face & Understand Poor Performance
Check-In
Check-InCheck-In
Check-In
If you want to hold people accountable, help them be
successful rather then blaming or micromanaging
Accountability isn’t an
event it’s a process
Using OKRs to improve accountability
What are OKRs?
• Objectives and Key Results
• Framework for defining
objectives & desired outcomes
and tracking the steps of
progress
• Brings ongoing discipline to
ensure focus and coordination
of efforts to make measurable
contributions
• For the company, team and
individual employees
• Shared across the company to
give visibility to team goals
Popular OKR Apps
• Seed-stage startups:
Weekdone
• Series B companies:
7Geese
• Larger companies:
BetterWorks
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Delegation vs Empowerment
68
Delegation
• The process of assigning specific duties, tasks and responsibilities to an individual
Empowerment
• The process of enabling workers to set their own work goals, make decisions, and solve problems within their sphere of responsibility and authority
• Leaders understand they must work through others and to gain leverage
• Many leaders--particularly entrepreneurs--fail to let go of control and try to do too
many things themselves
• Buy-in requires creating a feeling of ownership
• Get things done through the efforts of others by aligning them with your vision
• Competency as a leader involves working through and developing the
competency of others
The Delegation Process
Ask yourself: What's the highest
and best use of your time?
Decide: Are you are a player, a
player-coach or a coach?
Assign responsibilities
thoughtfully. Don't dump
Assess your level of trust in
subordinates’ capabilities and
experience
Adjust their level of decision-making
authority based on your evaluation
Consider their needs for direction
and support
Don't take back or reassign too
quickly
Consider developmental assignments
69
If you don’t take your commitments seriously,
neither will anyone else
✓ Get organized: establish goals, priorities and schedules
✓ Avoid becoming distracted by low priority items or unnecessary interruptions
✓ Act decisively and finish what you start.
✓ Avoid spreading yourself too thin by delegating low priority activities
✓ Share information and keep others up to date on progress and decisions
✓ Establish a regular daily routine and meeting cadence
✓ Avoid reckless risks and insufficient planning
✓ Keep your calls brief
✓ Run efficient meetings with an agenda, time limits and defined participant
expectations.
✓ Stop email madness
✓ Avoid letting meetings run over
✓ Learn to say “No”
✓ Hire an executive assistant
✓ Audit your calendar for the last 3 months
70
If you want to scale efficiently:
71
Become a Systems Thinker
Important Processes for Scaling
72
• Attracting, recruiting, selecting and hiring top talent
• New employee orientation and integration
• Performance management, review and development
• Continuous learning (mentoring, coaching and training)
• Developing close-knit, high-performing teams
• Compensation, rewards and recognition
• Succession planning
• Termination
• Planning
• Understanding and tracking market and customer information
• Communication
• Continuous innovation and improvement
• Measuring performance indicators
• Policy development and implementation
• Budgeting and tracking
• Financial management and capital acquisition
• Information technology and support
• Facilities management
Systemic Thinking Prevents Endless Fire-fighting
• Fast growing companies tend to fix immediate problems rather than
developing systemic solutions.
• Scaling requires developing more efficient and effective ways of
handling day-to-day tasks and problems
• Actions must be aligned and coordinated.
• This requires a holistic view of the organization: develop a mental model
of the complete end-to-end system of value creation
• Without this, you keep revisiting the same issue over and over again.
This creates inefficiency, stress and reliance on heroic efforts
• Avoid the danger that has not yet happened: Be proactive in addressing
inefficiencies
• This is not bureaucracy unless you overdo it: Systems and processes
enable enable efficient scaling
• Read:
– “Leading at the Speed of Growth” by Catlin and Matthews
73
Software Development Processes
74
Planning & project management
Design
Implementation
Code reviews
Testing
Deployment
Integration
Operations & maintenance
Security
Development standards
Documentation
Bug tracking
Outreach (tech. team blogs)
Leaders See The System as a Whole as Well as Its Parts
• Diagnose and understand how the system is actually
working today before focusing on how it should work
• Don’t let short-term pressures defocus you from the
overall picture
• Focus on the whole not just pieces: Look at the
organization as a whole and understand the details
without losing the big picture
• Look at the interconnections between functions,
units, teams and processes and how they need to
be integrated
• Form follows function: communicate the overall
purpose first and the enabling processes/procedures
second
• Build in feedback loops to help understand how
things are working in real time
• What demands are pulling on the system?
• Emphasize continuous improvement and learning
• Look for natural changes: cycles and oscillations
• Don’t let strategy makers become isolated from
front-line realities
• Embrace change and uncertainty rather than trying
to control or deny it
75
Have Your Team Identify Critical Structures,
Systems and Processes
How can we investigate and adopt best practices and lessons learned from within and outside the organization?
How can we analyze process breakdowns to ensure lessons are learned?
How can we manage quality by more effectively using data to identify trends and track progress?
How can we improve efficiency by asking employees and customers for input?
Where do we need to define and communicate expectations for required results?
Where do we need common process-management tools and methods for key parts of the organization?
Where do we need processes for “how things are done” in key parts of the organization?
Where do we need repeatable, consistent actions rather than heroic individual efforts?
Where do inefficiencies or recurring problems suggest processes that need to be developed or revamped?
Helping People Become The Best They Can Be
• Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected
• Be crystal clear and direct about what you expect and be honest about where people stand
• Make sure everyone understands the organization’s goals. Ask each direct report give you a list of goals for their team. Don’t accept excuses for not doing this
• Establish performance standards and metrics for all of your direct reports and for the company. Ask every subordinate to do the same for their organization
• Anything less than a commitment to excellence becomes an acceptance of mediocrity
• Appreciate effort but be sure everyone knows you expect results
• Publically state what you will commit to being held accountable for achieving
• Be tough but fair, consistent and objective
• Don’t rely on others to be the “bad cop” and deliver tough feedback
• Be absolutely disciplined in doing regular performance appraisals of your staff and expect them to do the same
• Let people know when they are in trouble and then help them improve
• Striving for excellence is not always seeking perfection. Striving for excellence is
motivating; striving for perfection is demoralizing
Creating a Culture of Discipline
• Discipline starts at the top. Be a model of
focus and dependability
• Be absolutely clear about priorities and
expectations
• Follow-up on commitments, both your own
and others
• Finish what you start and avoid getting
distracted by trivial details
• Establish systems and processes to drive
efficiency, quality and consistency
• Lead a systematic meeting process (e.g.
agenda setting, decision-making and
problem solving)
• Establish clear values that define
expected behaviors and make them part
of your performance evaluation
• Challenge people to push the envelope
and raise the bar
• Systematically praise and recognize
behaviors you want to see repeated
• Face the brutal facts and problems
• Identify economic drivers of the
business
• Develop a cadence for reviewing key
individual and organizational metrics
• Explore and understand root causes of
positive and negative deviations
• Have your reports share metrics
across the company to create
accountability for results
• Ask tough questions to understand
how metrics are defined and
calculated
• Continually focus on communicating
priorities
• Communicate to employees why
adopting a culture of discipline is
important for company success. Start
with your direct reports
Critical Leadership Differentiators for each stage of growth
Startup Phase: Balancing ideas and
products with meaning and people
Growth Phase:
Balancing growth and efficiency with
communication and motivation
Established Phase:
Balancing focus and stability with change
leadership
79
1. Building Teams
2. Building Relationships
3. Sensitivity and
Consideration
4. Creating Meaning
1. Holding people accountable
2. Systems and processes
3. Re-engineering processes
4. Emphasizing excellence
5. Inspirational role model
6. Information sharing
7. Creating buy-in
1. External focus
2. Strategic focus
3. Taking initiative
4. Decisiveness
5. Organizational awareness
6. Inspirational role model
7. Formal presentation
8. Delegation and empowerment
9. Praise and recognition
So, what are the important take-aways?
1. Be alert to trends, market needs, problems and opportunities
2. Be proactive and willing to rusk challenging the status quo
3. Paint a vision of possibilities that inspires, then develop a credible plan
4. Involve and listen to stakeholder’s ideas, needs and concerns
5. Build and nurture a cohesive and collaborative team
6. Invest in building relationships with followers and partnerships with other leaders in the organization
7. Be alert to social cues
8. Be transparent and take away secrets whenever possible
9. Keep people informed about developments, decisions and priorities
10.Work through disagreements and conflicts and encourage candid dialogue
11.Remember, you are a role model and everyone is watching and interpreting your behavior
12.Stay focused on priorities and the results you are trying to achieve
13.Make considered decisions but have a bias for action
14.Communicate expectations and define what success looks like
15.Help people be successful rather than blaming
16.Be a systems thinker and put in place the building blocks of efficiency to enable your plan to succeed
17.Be an optimist but put problems on the table80